A Memory of Christmas Past
by Ketakoshka Kathleen Castlionia
Summary: A reflection of Kaneki's Christmases before he became a ghoul.


**Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own such a beautiful Manga/Anime as Tokyo Ghoul. That would be too much of a dream come true.**

**Warnings: mentions of cannibalism and past character death**

**I've been waiting to do something for this fandom for a few months now. So here we go. I hope you all enjoy**

**Love, Keta**

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><p>A Memory of Christmas Past<p>

The scent of coffee reaches his nose as Kaneki awakens on Christmas day. He hears the soft rustle downstairs and smiles, knowing that Hinami and Hide are trying to be quiet, but he knows that he has to get up before the other ghouls arrive. Things are tense enough with him there to protect Hide from Touka and Tsukiyama's, in the latter's case disgustingly generated, anger, so he throws on a hoodie over his nightshirt and slips down into the quiet chaos.

The moment he reaches the threshold between the two levels, he realizes that coffee isn't the only thing he can smell anymore. He picks up his pace and sighs with relief when he gets to the apartment kitchen to find Hide alive but splattered with blood from the body parts he'd gotten out for Christmas breakfast. His kakugan activates without his consent, and he smirks when the brunette shivers under his hungry gaze. Kaneki briefly entertains the idea of cleaning the speckles of red with his tongue, but he knows that leaving blood on his human will only make Hideyoshi more appetizing to the other ghouls. He doesn't want to encourage that behavior, so he sends his lover to wash with a kiss and just a taste of the blood on the corner of his mouth.

Hinami giggles and sets to work cleaning the kitchen with her 'big brother', and by the time Hide descends the staircase for the second time that day and the mess is cleaned up, the others have arrived.

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><p>Kaneki and Hide sit in the same chair together after breakfast and the opening of presents, once the ghouls have vacated the apartment, and watch Hinami play with her new doll, 'teaching' her how to read in the same way the former had helped her learn new words. The taller man pulls his boyfriend's head onto his shoulder, and the other whispers, "I never thought that we'd get to spend Christmas together again."<p>

"Why not?" Hide asks, curious and worried about where this conversation is going.

"Because... Because I didn't know if I could control myself around you."

"Ken..."

Kaneki refuses to turn his gaze from Hinami as he replies, not wanting to see Hide's expression, and he closes his eyes tightly. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Hide responds, making the raven look up at him with surprise. "I trust you. I trust you as my best friend, as my boyfriend, and as the ghoul that would devour the entire world to protect Hinami and I." The smaller man smiles then, a tiny gesture that makes the human return it, before shifting in the chair to hold his hybrid more tightly. "Now cheer up... It's Christmas, and this time nothing will ruin it."

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><p>Kaneki remembers the time when he was human and ghouls were just a nightmare to be thought of in rare moments in the darkness alone, when he lived with his mother. Christmas was nothing short of a disappointment because she wouldn't come home, and he would be trapped, in the library, always alone. He'd open his presents when he woke up and would go back to the library and wait for her to come home, so she can open what he got her. When she died, he did not hold out for a hope that his past dealings with the holiday, but that changed when he met Hideyoshi for the first time.<p>

Their first Christmas together, Kaneki was surprised to see Hide with his arms full of presents. They were all books, and most of them, he had already read. But he was overjoyed and reread them again. Hide was surprised and aggravated that his friend hadn't told him that he already read them, and when he asked him why he kept it a secret, Keneki replied that it was the present that counted and that it didn't matter that he had already read them. The fact that Hide wanted to give him anything was amazing enough to him.


End file.
